When Is ‘Old’ Too Old To Chase Your Dreams?

When are we too old to chase our dreams, start a new business, change careers, write a book, become an actor or actress, set a sporting record or whatever else takes our fancy?

As a mind coach I have to say that whatever number follows your name this will only stop you from trying something new, if you choose to let it.

I think as long as we are breathing, it is never too late to try and become who we can be. Or who we secretly wished and hoped to be.

So what about you? Are you over 40 or 50 or 60 and think it’s too late for you? It isn’t. Here is a short list of people who didn’t find success until later in life.

Samuel L Jackson was 46 when he got his first major acting role. He was unknown until then.

Vera Wang didn’t start her wedding design business until she was 40.

Jack Cover invented the Taser stun gun and became an entrepreneur at 50

Colonel Sanders didn’t have success with KFC until after he was 65 (He was broke and had a failed restaurant before this)

Laura Ingalls Wilder got her first Little House on the Prairie novel published at age 65. She wrote a further 12 before she died

Grandma Moses was in her eighties when she picked up her first paint brush.

Julia Child wrote her first cookbook at age 50 and later went onto become a celebrity chef at age 53

Wally Blume started his own ice cream company (Denali Flavors) at age 57 ($80 million turnover in 2009)

Momofuku Ando invented instant noodles at age 48

And I could add more and more people to this list, both male and female.

Now of course there are somethings older folk are not going to succeed as well in as younger folk will. Take athletics for example. A 50 year old isn’t going to run an 800m world record against 20 something’s in their prime. But they could however, set a record in the senior age brackets. If, that’s what they want.

Never let who you were get in the way of who can become or what you can now do

In this day and age, I think more older people should be chasing dreams and they are starting to. Maybe this perspective is because I myself am approaching 55 (But as all us maturing people think, I don’t feel that way).

Gone are the days when you got a job and had it for life. That way of life and mindset is fast disappearing. Some of this new shift in thinking is being forced upon us…

Yes, governments across Europe are raising the retirement ages for both men and women. Of course, their agenda is not for our wellbeing but to keep the tax coffers filled – but this is not a political post.

But I welcome this, I think it IS good for ‘older’ people to carry on working. But not in a job they despise. Research shows that a large chunk of healthy people who retire and do nothing afterwards contract deadly diseases within 5 years.

So how old are you right now? Why not think of a change or something you can do for yourself now? It really isn’t too late.

Opportunity does not discriminate. It can’t.

What gets you excited? What did you want to do when you were younger? Do you have any dreams that were trodden under foot due to commitments and responsibility? Are any of these feasible for you to try now?

Do you have a hobby that you could perhaps turn into a business idea?

Opportunity is there for everyone – no matter how old you are

There are more and more older people now going to college and university than ever before. Opportunity is not just there for younger folk it is there for anybody…young or old, male or female. Opportunity doesn’t discriminate. It is just that: Opportunity. And it doesn’t come knocking, you have to go and seek it and make it happen. And you start by first and foremost deciding what you want to do.

Your age does not limit what you can achieve, your thinking does

I got my first book published just two months shy of my 50th birthday and I am working on getting a second one published now. I also write song lyrics. In my evenings, instead of being slumped in front of the TV all night watching other people live theirdreams, I am working on mine by writing. And researching how I can get them to recording artists.

And I just read that somebody is still writing hit records and he is in his 70’s!

So if you are getting stressed out because you haven’t made it yet and you are still in your 30’s, there is no need to. Of course it doesn’t also mean that you can sit idly by and procrastinate!

If you are in your 40’s, 50’s or even your 60’s and you feel you could be more, do more and achieve something you have maybe left on the backburner for too long, I would say go for it. There is so much help out there right now.

Never let your age determine what is possible. Be open to what could be possible for you. You could just surprise yourself.

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I am a published author and writer of several ebooks. Known as the Mind Coach, I help people unlock their true potential so that they can achieve their dreams and goals and perform better more of the time.

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Robert Hamilton

Robert is a published author and expert mind coach. A certified NLP Practitioner, Timeline Therapy™ and Life Enhancement Coach (Dip). Rob has studied the mind and performance for 30 years.